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Marked by a monthlong celebration of the Free Speech Movement and the unveiling of plans for an ambitious new Berkeley Global Campus, 2014 at UC Berkeley was both a year to remember and a time to reimagine the future.
Campus news archive
Tips for saving energy during the holiday curtailment
December 23, 2014: During last year’s winter curtailment, UC Berkeley saved 711,000 kWh of electricity, about enough to power 64 households for one month. The Office of Sustainability offers tips for saving energy again as the holiday break starts at the end of the day today.
BAM/PFA throws an all-day moving party
December 19, 2014: The Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive is celebrating its final day of programs in its Bancroft Way building, with art, music, dance, performance and a festive procession to its new site at Center and Oxford streets. Things kick off at 11 a.m. Sunday (Dec. 21).
Outstanding staff sought for 2015 COSA awards
December 19, 2014: UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks has sent out a call for nominations for exceptional individual staff members and/or teams of staff for the 2015 Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Awards. The deadline is Jan. 29.
Nominations are open for 2014 Haas Public Service Award
December 19, 2014: Nominations are open for the 2014 Peter E. Haas Public Service Award at UC Berkeley. The award honors alumni who have made an outstanding voluntary contribution in the fields of community service, health care, the environment or education. Nominations are due Feb. 12.
Napolitano appointed to Goldman School faculty
December 18, 2014: UC President Janet Napolitano has been appointed to the faculty of UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, Dean Henry Brady announced today (Thursday, Dec. 18).
Seven UC campuses make ‘Best Value’ public colleges list
December 18, 2014: UC Berkeley is the top among seven UC campuses that made Kiplinger Personal Finance’s top 100 Best Values in Public Colleges for 2015, which are based on criteria that include academic quality and affordability.
Holiday gifts with a UC Berkeley twist
December 16, 2014: Whether you’re gift shopping for a Cal Athletics fan, an environmentally minded undergrad or a visiting music buff, campus organizations, museums and gifts shops offer a host of novel options. Here are a few holiday gift ideas.
Beautiful botanical art, on display now at the Bot Garden 
December 16, 2014: The beauty and complexity of plants are captured in extraordinary detail in the UC Botanical Garden’s new “Following in the Bartrams’ Footsteps” exhibit, which opened this week in Julia Morgan Hall. Featured are 44 original artworks by artists who create their pieces in the style of John and William Bartram, who lived three centuries ago. Watch our video to take an online tour with one of the artists.
Black staff, faculty stage silent protest at Sproul
December 15, 2014: Black staff and faculty at Berkeley led a silent protest in front of Sproul Hall on Monday, in solidarity with the nationwide #BlackLivesMatter movement. More than 100 stood in a driving rain to silently voice their support for the growing movement.
Dirks, Richmonders get down to business on global campus
December 15, 2014: The chancellor met Thursday with Richmond civic leaders and city residents to hear their perspectives, and to reiterate — and reinforce — his commitment to the community as the new Berkeley Global Campus moves ahead.
Campus alerts individuals to IT security breach
December 15, 2014: The campus is notifying about 1,600 individuals that their personal informational may have been accessed during an IT security breach in the Real Estate Division. Letters have been sent to those impacted.
Berkeley Stars sing and shine 
December 12, 2014: Taking a page from “American Idol,” 12 Berkeley singers took the mic on the Zellerbach stage on a recent Friday to compete for the title of Berkeley’s Star 2014.
Storm message to the campus community
December 11, 2014: UC Berkeley leadership sent a messages\ to the campus community about storm-related accommodations for affected employees and students.
Mark Bittman’s menu to include UC Berkeley
December 11, 2014: Mark Bittman, popular food writer and New York Times columnist, will be a distinguished visiting fellow on campus during spring semester, collaborating with faculty, staff and students connected to the Berkeley Food Institute.
Food luminaries to light up spring semester
December 11, 2014: The Berkeley Food Institute is drawing food and agriculture experts to campus from across the country to address challenges and find solutions to problems in the food sector. Among the luminaries headed to campus this spring is New York Times columnist and writer Mark Bittman, who will co-host the popular Edible Education 101 course. Also: Q&A with Mark Bittman
UC Berkeley anthropologist-physician wins Margaret Mead Award
December 9, 2014: Seth Holmes, an assistant professor of the UCSF-UC Berkeley Joint Medical Anthropology program, teaches in Berkeley’s School of Public Health and is the director of ISSI’s Berkeley Center for Social Medicine.
Forestry club offers holiday trees, fresh from the Sierra
December 5, 2014: Evergreen trees sustainably harvested in the Sierra by the Cal Forestry Club are on sale Dec. 7 to 13 at Mulford Hall. Proceeds from the annual sale support professional development for members of the 102-year-old student organization.
New building aims to transform Berkeley-Haas student experience
December 4, 2014: Berkeley’s Haas School of Business is constructing a new six-story academic building devoted entirely to student learning and interaction, it was announced Thursday. The $60 million structure will be funded with private donations from alumni and friends of the school.
Ph.D. on hold, White House fellow’s stars align at NASA
December 4, 2014: Dan Hammer, a Berkeley Ph.D. candidate, has been a volunteer firefighter, was instrumental in launching Global Forest Watch, taught math at San Quentin, raced canoes in the South Pacific, and boasts a personal-best 27 seconds at solving a Rubik’s Cube. And now he’s a Presidential Innovation Fellow, working on quantum computing for NASA.
Big Ideas guest lecturer Wendy Schmidt advocates for a sea change
November 26, 2014: Schmidt Ocean Institute co-founder Wendy Schmidt delivered a guest lecture to students in the College of Letters and Science’s Big Ideas “Oceans” course, telling them a sea change was needed to rebuild humans’ relationship with the planet. “We are the last generation to have the chance to do something about this,” said the Graduate School of Journalism alumna, who is president of the Schmidt Family Foundation.
UCPD brings Thanksgiving cheer to University Village
November 25, 2014: Campus police officers, led by Police Chief Margo Bennett and Capt. Alex Yao, passed out Thanksgiving meals on Friday to 30 families living at the student housing complex in Albany. Also, a holiday season survival tactic: Practice radical gratitude
For student regent, sitting on UC board means taking a stand
November 25, 2014: Though she’s missed classes, lost sleep and put her social life on hold since becoming UC student regent in July, Berkeley social-welfare major Sadia Saifuddin is upbeat about the role, calling it a “blessing” and a job “I was meant to do.”
Open Enrollment closes Tuesday (Nov. 25) at 5 p.m.
November 24, 2014: The deadline for making changes to your employee benefits is here: Open Enrollment closes Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 5 p.m. sharp.
Carol Christ named director of Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE)
November 24, 2014: Carol T. Christ, longtime UC Berkeley administrator and professor as well as a recent president of Smith College, will be the new director of the Center for Studies in Higher Education at Berkeley, Chancellor Dirks and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Steele announced today (Monday, Nov. 24).
Campus gives a ‘Big Thanks’ for successful fund drive
November 21, 2014: UC Berkeley sends out a “Big Thanks” to the legion of supporters who made Thursday’s Big Give such a big success, one that will benefit students, faculty and research.
New mushroom discovered on campus — the first since 1985
November 21, 2014: For the first time in 30 years, a new species of mushroom has been discovered on the UC Berkeley campus, to the delight of the researchers who found it. Else Vellinga and Nhu Nguyen, the researchers, named it Helvella dryophila,
Engineering’s Fiona Doyle named new dean of the Graduate Division
November 20, 2014: Engineering professor Fiona Doyle will serve as the new dean of the Graduate Division at UC Berkeley, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Claude Steele announced today (Thursday, Nov. 20). She will begin her new role on Jan. 1.
Regents approve five-year tuition-hike plan for UC students
November 20, 2014: Chancellor Dirks voiced his full support for the new plan, “a necessary response to the massive state disinvestment in the University of California.”
Chopping down the Stanford Tree in slow motion
November 19, 2014: Hundreds of Cal fans showed up for the annual Tree Chopping Rally on Sproul Plaza Tuesday and cheered on a group of axe-wielding students. To psych up the campus for the 117th Big Game, Saturday against Stanford, the Cal logging team showed off their chain sawing and chopping techniques, symbolizing California’s triumph over the Stanford Tree, the mascot of the Stanford band.
